WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump was hit with new accusations of racism Saturday after he attacked a prominent African-American lawmaker and branded the majority black city of Baltimore an “infested mess.”
Trump’s outburst came in a series of sharply worded tweets aimed at Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings — a high-profile critic of Trump’s administration whose district covers much of Baltimore.
“Cumming (sic) District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” the president wrote, calling it “the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States.”
“No human being would want to live there,” he said — in an attack ostensibly provoked by Cummings’ criticism of the harsh conditions facing would-be asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.
The morning diatribe ignited a storm of criticism, less than two weeks after the House of Representatives condemned Trump for “racist” comments targeting four first-term Democratic congresswomen who are ethnic minorities.
The top Democrat in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, accused Trump of a “racist” attack on a “champion... of civil rights and economic justice, a beloved leader in Baltimore, and deeply valued colleague.”
“We all reject racist attacks against him,” wrote Pelosi — who was born in Baltimore and whose father served as mayor of the city.
Former vice president Joe Biden — the Democratic frontrunner to challenge Trump in 2020 — called out the president directly on Twitter.
“It is despicable for you to attack him and the people of Baltimore this way,” Biden wrote. “Once again you have proved yourself unfit to hold the office. A President is supposed to lift this nation up. Not tear it down.”
There was similar condemnation from half a dozen White House candidates including Cory Booker, who tweeted footage of a black CNN anchor and Baltimore native who broke down on air while reacting to the attack on his hometown.
“This is painful. This is a moral, defining moment in America,” wrote Booker. “Silence is toxic complicity.”
Democratic 2020 contender Kamala Harris, who like Booker is black, said she was “proud” to have her campaign headquarters in Cummings’ district and called Trump’s attack “disgraceful.”
The city’s Democratic Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young — also black — rejected Trump’s rhetoric, calling it “hurtful and dangerous.”
“It was a total insult,” he told reporters. “We’re not going to ignore anyone degrading Baltimore city and its effective leadership, no one.”
The editorial board of the city’s newspaper, The Baltimore Sun, took a direct swipe at Trump in a scathing column which concluded that it is “better to have a few rats than to be one.”
A historic port city of 600,000 people, Baltimore presents a mixed picture, with both handsome and affluent neighborhoods and poverty-stricken districts. It has one of the country’s highest murder rates.
Cummings’ district is more than 50 percent black — and the city of Baltimore as a whole, more than 60 percent.
Cummings himself tweeted: “Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors. It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.”
As chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Cummings — one of the most prominent African Americans in Congress — has launched investigations into Trump administration policies, including reports of poor treatment at migrant detention centers.
“Rep. Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous,” Trump charged.
He attacked Cummings again Saturday evening after spending the day at Trump National Golf Club outside Washington.
“Elijah Cummings spends all of his time trying to hurt innocent people through ‘Oversight.’ He does NOTHING for his very poor, very dangerous and very badly run district!,” the president tweeted, adding the hashtag #BlacksForTrump2020.
The broadside was reminiscent of Trump’s recent, racially charged onslaught against four young Democratic women lawmakers, who he said should “go back” to the “crime infested” places they came from. In fact, three were born in the US and all are American citizens.
Trump denies accusations of racism — and has made a point of pushing for the release of US rapper A$AP Rocky, held in Sweden on assault charges, in an apparent effort to curb his unpopularity with black voters.
But his calculated targeting of the “Squad” — as the four are known — was widely seen as a bid to galvanize his mostly white electoral base as he gears up for next year’s reelection battle.
Outrage as Trump brands mostly-black Baltimore ‘infested mess’
Outrage as Trump brands mostly-black Baltimore ‘infested mess’
- “Cumming (sic) District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” the president wrote, calling it “the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States”
- The morning diatribe ignited a storm of criticism, less than two weeks after the House of Representatives condemned Trump for “racist” comments targeting four first-term Democratic congresswomen who are ethnic minorities
Carney says Canada has no plans to pursue free trade agreement with China as Trump threatens tariffs
Carney says Canada has no plans to pursue free trade agreement with China as Trump threatens tariffs
TORONTO: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday his country has no intention of pursuing a free trade deal with China. He was responding to US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 100 percent tariff on goods imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor went ahead with a trade deal with Beijing.
Carney said his recent agreement with China merely cuts tariffs on a few sectors that were recently hit with tariffs.
Trump claims otherwise, posting that “China is successfully and completely taking over the once Great Country of Canada. So sad to see it happen. I only hope they leave Ice Hockey alone! President DJT”
The prime minister said under the free trade agreement with the US and Mexico there are commitments not to pursue free trade agreements with nonmarket economies without prior notification.
“We have no intention of doing that with China or any other nonmarket economy,” Carney said. “What we have done with China is to rectify some issues that developed in the last couple of years.”
In 2024, Canada mirrored the United States by putting a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles from Beijing and a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum. China had responded by imposing 100 percent import taxes on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25 percent on pork and seafood.
Breaking with the United States this month during a visit to China, Carney cut its 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on those Canadian products.
Carney has said there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports coming into Canada at a tariff rate of 6.1 percent, growing to about 70,000 over five years. He noted there was no cap before 2024. He also has said the initial cap on Chinese EV imports was about 3 percent of the 1.8 million vehicles sold in Canada annually and that, in exchange, China is expected to begin investing in the Canadian auto industry within three years.
Trump posted a video Sunday in which the chief executive of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association warns there will be no Canadian auto industry without US access, while noting the Canadian market alone is too small to justify large scale manufacturing from China.
“A MUST WATCH. Canada is systematically destroying itself. The China deal is a disaster for them. Will go down as one of the worst deals, of any kind, in history. All their businesses are moving to the USA. I want to see Canada SURVIVE AND THRIVE! President DJT,” Trump posted on social media.
Trump’s post on Saturday said that if Carney “thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken.”
“We can’t let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the U.S,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“We have a , but based off — based on that, which is going to be renegotiated this summer, and I’m not sure what Prime Minister Carney is doing here, other than trying to virtue-signal to his globalist friends at Davos.”
Trump’s threat came amid an escalating war of words with Carney as the Republican president’s push to acquire Greenland strained the NATO alliance.
Carney has emerged as a leader of a movement for countries to find ways to link up and counter the US under Trump. Speaking in Davos before Trump, Carney said, “Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu” and he warned about coercion by great powers — without mentioning Trump’s name. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the World Economic Forum.
Trump’s push to acquire Greenland has come after he has repeatedly needled Canada over its sovereignty and suggested it also be absorbed into the United States as a 51st state. He posted an altered image on social media this week showing a map of the United States that included Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba as part of its territory.
